Unearthing the Strata
by Xinliang
Summary: Syaoran is an archaeology student who lives with his professor. When he befriends and his professor's daughter, he discovers there is a mystery surrounding her: she is cheery on the outside, yet troubled on the inside. Will Syaoran be able to unearth what is troubling Sakura and find out what is at the core of her problems? (More summary inside). SxS.


**Unearthing the Strata**

**written by: Xinliang**

****Summary: Syaoran is an archaeologist in the making and thinks he knows everything there is about uncovering and discovering new things. When his professor's daughter, Sakura Kinomoto, comes to live with them he is posed with a challenge: uncovering who Sakura is, and what secrets she is hiding. On the surface, she is a cheerful young woman with a bright future ahead of her, but on the inside she is plagued with demons that she keeps hidden from everyone else. Will Syaoran eventually be able to unearth each part of the strata and get to the core of what is troubling Sakura, and help her?

**Chapter 1**

Archaeology is my passion. I don't recall a time in my life where I wasn't getting down and dirty on the soil and digging as deep down in the earth as I could. It all began in the sand box, then progressively I'd find myself in the forest. My interest was further fueled by my fascination of reading about the dinosaurs and watching documentaries about prehistoric life. Eventually, my interest would deviate towards early civilization and their secrets. I'd like to call it 'practical history' and literally 'digging down to the past'.

As much as I loved archaeology, my family as a whole did not approve of my interest. They thought it was just a hobby of mine and like many phases, this too would pass. They were wrong. As soon as I was finishing high school and getting ready to apply to colleges, my aunts and uncles would disapprovingly give their two cents. They talk, they all talk. All they say is, "The rightful heir of the Li family business shouldn't be playing around with shovels and playing sandbox." Or something to that effect. They said it with such malice in their words.

They were right though. I was the next in line to inherit the Li family business – officially. My sisters could, theoretically, inherit the company as well when my mother dies ... should they want it. Before my father passed away, he ensured in his will that the control of the assets and business would go directly to me. I would inherit the business, but he never specified I should take over – yet my extended family pushes these expectations on me. The Li family owns several pharmaceutical companies around Hong Kong and in some parts of China. Needless to say, we were rich. I grew up with others around me that I wasn't required to go to college if I didn't want to because I would never have to work again.

I knew what I wanted to do since I was a young boy: be an archaeologist. I wanted to be like those guys on television. I didn't want to be stressed out to death like my father was, or be sitting in some high-rise office in the financial district of Hong Kong. I wanted to make something of myself, not ride the coat-tails of what my father and those before him have established. Besides, I'm no good as a business man.

_Three years ago..._

As I was filling out my applications for college, my mother snuck around from behind me, and I could feel her watchful gaze on me.

"The University of Hong Kong Archaeology and Anthropology program..." My mother grabbed one of the pamphlets from my desk and flipped through it. "You're really serious about this, Syaoran?"

"Mother," I turned around and looked at her sternly, "I always have been."

"You look exactly like your father... yet you are completely opposite from him." She sighed, yet she was smiling. She lightly grasped at my shoulders and squeezed them so she could comfort me. "Besides that, only thing you two have in common is that you're both skilled in martial arts."

I was never exactly close to my father because he was too busy to pay any attention to us anyways. From what I remembered of him, he was a skilled fighter and would attend my martial arts tournaments from time to time, and he would help me train. He never liked reading books and never liked to watch television; but he would always be on his cell phone talking to a client. Needless to say, I didn't have many fond memories of him. It was sort of a relief that I wasn't like my father.

I continued writing down my application for the University of Hong Kong, my nosy mother found another pamphlet.

"Tomoeda University's Archaeology and Anthropology program..." She said quietly, "You intend to leave Hong Kong, Syaoran?"

Yes, that was one of my options. As much as I'd like to get into the University of Hong Kong it was just a dream. My grades were good, yet in order to get into UHK you had to have exceptional marks. Of course, I could probably get in because of my family's wealth... but a part of me just wanted to get out and see the world.

I nodded in response.

"Tomoeda University..." My mother kept repeating those two words over and over again. She had a slight smile on her face. "I know someone from Tomoeda University."

"You do?" It was the first time I've ever heard of her having any Japanese friends.

Mother's expression lightened up even more, as if a flood of good thoughts and warm memories came rushing through her head. "Yes, a good friend of mine back when I was your age. His name was Fujitaka Kinomoto."

That name was familiar. _Kinomoto_. I pondered for a second while staring at the papers on my desk. Then, like a surge of lightning pulsing through my brain, I remembered. My expression was probably as lightened up as mother's. "Kinomoto... I saw him on a documentary about Ancient Japan, on a segment about magtamas or other relics of some sort."

"Yes, he is an archaeologist and a professor who specializes in studying ancient Japan." She was as excited as I was, "He is such an intelligent man who knows his stuff... he's ten times more passionate than you in archaeology, of course."

"Well, of course." I chuckled.

"I'm going to see what I can do. I know I can't change your mind about archaeology... and that's okay." I felt mother's warm hands on my shoulders again, "I'm going to support whatever you do. I suppose I'll make a phone call sometime."

After that conversation, she immediately phoned Fujitaka Kinomoto within a few hours. By luck, she happened to catch him on his off-days. Without talking about the boring details, I somehow managed to get into Tomoeda University with the help of mother and Dr. Kinomoto. A few months later I packed my most important clothing and belongings and hopped on the plane to go to Tomoeda, Japan. Tomoeda was a quaint little city that was a few hours away from Tokyo. Surrounding the city was a vast land that was full of natural beauty. I was to stay in Dr. Kinomoto's residence – my mother insisted on having me stay at his place, she didn't want me alone in Japan by myself.

_Two and a half years ago..._

"Welcome to your new home, Syaoran-kun." Fujitaka said as he unlocked the front door and let me in his home. His home was in the city of Tomoeda, a modest yellow house that was oddly very Westernized in it's style. I thought that he would be living in a more traditional home.

"Thank you for letting me stay here, Dr. Kinomoto." I bowed, then I proceeded to carry in my luggage.

"Your room will be in the basement." Dr. Kinomoto said, "It's actually fairly huge. I was thinking of letting you stay in Touya – my son's room – but it's a bit too small. The basement has more privacy and a bathroom... and has plenty of studying space since it's near my own home office. There's also a lot of sunlight down there too, so don't worry." He chuckled.

"Thank you, Dr. Kinomoto." I bowed again.

"You don't need to be so formal." He said, "You're Yelan's son and since she's like my family, I will be treating you with the same courtesy. Call me Fujitaka from now on, alright? Make yourself at home."

"Yes, Fujitaka." I nodded.

When I got to my room he was right. It was a fairly huge space! There was a huge basement window that let in a lot of sunlight. There was a huge closet, a bed, and a desk. Outside of my room there was a study and a small washroom. His basement was enough to be the size of a small apartment.

As I finished unpacking I headed back up the stairs and wandered around. The house was modestly decorated. Not too much clutter, if any, and it was well-maintained.

When I got to the living room area I saw a bunch of family photographs on the wall and on an end desk. There was a picture of a beautiful woman with dark hair and green eyes, who I presume is his wife, and then on another photograph there was a young man who had dark hair and brown eyes – he looked like Fujitaka. Next to that photograph was a picture of a girl who looked my age; she had shoulder length hair, the colour of auburn – the same colour as Fujitaka's – and stunning green eyes like Fujitaka's wife.

"Wow! You unpack fast." Fujitaka said from behind me, which startled me a little.

"Oh... I'm sorry for wandering around." I apologised for sneaking around.

"Why are you sorry?" He looked genuinely dumbfounded, "This is your home too – you can go where you like."

I was fixated at the picture of who I assume to be his daughter.

"That's Sakura." Fujitaka noticed that I was staring at Sakura's picture. "She's my youngest child, and my only daughter." As he was talking about her, he was beaming really proudly.

"Ah." Was all I could say, what else could have I said?

"She's in school in Tokyo right now as an architect student." Fujitaka continued and pointed to the picture of his son. "This is Touya, he's my oldest child and my only son." There was warmth in Fujitaka's voice - you could tell that he adored his kids. "He's not living here anymore since he lives with his partner, but stops by time to time. He just finished law school a few years ago and he's working as a lawyer."

"No one wanted to continue on the family tradition, huh?" I chuckled. Two children, and not one of them entering into academia or research.

"I never want to put pressure on my kids. Besides..." He said jokingly, "I tell them not to go into academia anyways!"

"This must be your wife, then?" Fujitaka introduced his children – it wouldn't hurt to ask him about his wife. Besides, this had to be his wife. He only has two children.

Fujitaka's expression changed slightly. It went from an excited, proud expression, to a sad somber one. Still, he was smiling – but the mood completely changed, or at least I felt it. It took him a while before nodding his head and simply saying "yeah, that's my wife."

As much as I had a knack on pressing on things and wanting to pry in deeper, it was something personal, I knew that as much. The silence was awkward and I felt like I just shot myself in the foot for even mentioning it. Perhaps they were divorced? Perhaps nothing happened at all? It was as if Fujitaka could read my mind going into a frantic state, to which he then said...

"She passed away almost twenty years ago." The professor said in such a cool, calm voice. You could tell he was in pain, yet, he remained as collected as ever; and with a smile on his face as he said it. "Her name was Nadeshiko." He carefully picked up the framed photograph and stared at the picture.

She passed away. That was all I needed to know. I didn't need to know how, or why, but I knew. I nodded to tell him that I understood. He didn't need to speak of it more, especially if it made him feel this way.

Fujitaka and I continued to chat, while deviating from the subject of his wife. He continued to gloat about his children; like any proud parent would do. Then came the subject of my family and he asked me various questions like how my mother was doing, and how my father was doing. He was surprised to find out that my father passed away years ago and he didn't know. It was actually quite a big deal in Hong Kong since father was a 'kingpin' of the Hong Kong pharmaceutical industry. He also admitted that he had not spoken to mother since their college days. He asked about my sisters, and other casual stuff.

_Present..._

It was nice, getting to know him and all. I had to get to know him because he was my guardian while I stayed in Japan. It was weird – when I was coming to Japan all I could think of was how prestigious he was, how he was an archaeologist and a well-known professor in Japan, and how it'll be super formal and awkward living with him. Yet the past two and a half years I've been living with him, it's been anything but formal. He was like an uncle to me, and he treated me like part of his family. I enjoy working for him and being his student.

I am now entering my third year of the archaeological program in Tomoeda University and I am in a senior level enough to be his assistant. I would periodically grade his papers and go on archaeological digs with him during the summer. For the past two and a half years it was just him and I, and sometimes his son would visit from time to time – but he was busy because he was a lawyer now, of course. What I found that was weird was his daughter wouldn't visit – Tokyo wasn't far from Tomoeda; but Fujitaka said it was okay and that he understood that she was busy and had a life, and he too was busy.

Life is good right now. I am where I want to be.

* * *

**A/N: **Hey, everyone! I thought I wouldn't be back writing fanfiction again because I got so busy with school, work, and life. I had a fanfic idea in my head. This story will probably be around 15 chapters at the very maximum. It may be shorter than that, however. This is a simple romance story, slice of life, with some drama. I wanted to write Sakura and Syaoran as adults because there are too many fanfics here where they're teenagers. I'm no longer a teenager (for a while now) and I want to write about that kind of stuff, I guess. I have no idea yet if I'm going to put ~lemon~ because I suck at writing those, but there will be mild violence. Thanks for reading.


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